Ragged Hearts
by Pheobe Arocis
Summary: After the Doctor discovered that Gallifrey still existed, he and Clara went in search of it. But when the Doctor discovers something more than he ever believed possible . . . will he finally break? Or will he become even greater than ever?


**DISCLAIMER: I do not, nor will I ever, own anything related to Doctor Who. I borrowed their characters and manipulated them to do my bidding . . . Muh-Wa-Ha-Ha-Ha!**

**Prologue:**

**The Day the Doctor Died**

They sit there, across from one another, knee to knee, head to head. Silence penetrates the air around them, protecting them. They just sit there, tears barreling down their faces without remorse. Tears of happiness, of regret, of peace, of tiredness, of hope, of pain and despair, of desire. The do not speak. There is not even the barest twitch of the lips to be seen.

She rises, a vision of unearthly beauty, and turns to the youthful old man before her . . .

and she holds her pale hand out to him. A lonely god, on his knees, the grief of twelve-hundred years etched into his eyes and the tracks of tears on his face. She, a goddess, for there are no other words to describe her. She is surrounded by warm golden light, a halo around her flowing blonde hair and the color of her omniscient eyes, and the tears that fall from them.

"Come with me, my Doctor," she speaks to the man, in her soft, double-toned, ethereal voice. She sees life and death and past and present and future - she is Time. Oh, once in her youth she was Bad Wolf and she was a flower before then: the famous Rose Tyler, defender of the Earth and the Universe, Bane of the Daleks, the Moment, and so much more. She met her Doctor, she saved him again and again, and became so much _more_.

And she will save him again.

One last time.

People surround them. Friends, companions, lovers, enemies, the lost - they're all there. Rassilon, Koschei the Master, Sarah Jane, Martha, Captain Jack Harkness, Mickey, the Ponds, River Song, Clara the Impossible Girl, Madame Vastra, Donna, Ace, Susan, Ian, Barbara, and the Brigadier. Some are there to kill the Doctor, others are there to save him.

The watch in stunned awe at the interaction between the glowing female and the Doctor, frozen in their movements by the astounding turn of events.

"The Universe has new protectors, my Doctor," urges the woman of gold, "they have been trained well by you, my dear. A legacy that will last until the end of time. You have seen, heard, and felt enough suffering to break even the greatest a billion times over. No more, my Doctor."

The Doctor stands and turns towards the goddess wrapped in brilliant light. "Rose, I-"

"You are my Doctor . . . mine. And I am yours. But your time draws to a close. Come with me, _please_. You have saved others so many times, even those who turn their backs on you and bring you nothing but suffering and unjust misery. You _saved_ Gallifrey, my Doctor, against all odds. Isn't it time for peace, Doctor? For someone to save _you_?"

Her questions echo throughout the vast space. Their unseen audience stays transfixed, too caught up to be trying to kill each other, and trying to take over and destroy the Universe.

They hear the Doctor's broken voice say, "Why?"

They hear the mysterious golden woman say, "You deserve nothing less, my Doctor."

They hear people scream when the Doctor grabs the outstretched hand offered by the woman, by Rose Tyler, by the Bad Wolf, by the Doctor's only true equal. That's when the spell breaks.

They realize that it is them - even those who wish to the Doctor to be dead - who are screaming "Doctor!" and "Grandfather!" and "Doc!" and "Theta!" and "Alien Boy!" and for him to stop. But he doesn't hesitate.

He doesn't even turn around and wave back to them. He just steps forward into the waiting embrace of Rose Tyler, with her unmatchable and unwavering love, and in a swirling golden haze they are gone.

Forever.

. . . And that is the day that the Doctor died.

Not on Trenzalore or the banks of Lake Silencio or alone in the TARDIS, but in the arms of the love of his lives and on the way to ascending a higher state of being.


End file.
